The only specialised marine publication in Oceania that focuses on the maritime industry, from super yachts to small craft to large commercial ships, including coastal shipping, tugs, tow boats, barges, ferries, tourist, sport-fishing craft
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FISHING GREENLINE: TAKE A WALK ON THE CIVILISED SIDE BY CAPTAIN ASPARAGUS L ate last year I read on the fishing.net site, of a boat that sounded very interesting: a 40ft Greenline boat, which was a genuine hybrid powered boat (yes, like a Prius), with solar panels able to charge batteries sufficient to run the whole boat for a while. Sounded pretty interesting to this kiwi, so after some none too subtle hints, I managed to wangle a day out in the boat with Richard the Greenline agent, his mate Norm, myself, one of my nieces and a couple of her mates. Down we trooped to Westhaven and loaded aboard the boat all keen and eager, although I was a bit disappointed with the weather Auckland had laid on for us. Beautiful Auckland���s lovely weather was cold, gusty and wet, just delightful. Whereas in dank Waikato apparently it was glorious and sunny all day. I knew there was a reason I liked Matamata so much! Weather is WAY more civilised. Really, there is not too much to report from the trip. Most of the fish (ahem, all but one of the fish, a nice panny snapper caught by Johanna), came from the longlines we laid on our way out so the fishing action was not exactly electric, however that was not really what I was most interested in. The boat itself is just your typical 40ft cruiser. A bit more internal space than a game boat of similar length because she doesn���t have the big cockpit, however, as I have been on a fair number of older cruising style boats as well I can say the internal layout of the boat is pretty much what you would expect of an average, well laid out new boat. The saloon is roomy enough, a standard layout really, nice and comfy. The for���ard master cabin has split singles that can be re-joined to form a double should you so desire, which is handy if there are a few guys on a boat and no one really wants to share a double bed. The second cabin has two more single berths, again, fairly typical layout. The cockpit is plenty large enough, the canopy is no hindrance to basic fishing, game fishing would be an issue, however they have options more suited to this if one The sedan style interior incorporates a friendly atmosphere 50 Professional Skipper March/April 2013 should so desire. But for ease of use there is plenty of space, good headroom and no problems at all. The fact that she doesn���t have a flying bridge certainly does not discombobulate me as I never go up there anyhow, the extra height just exacerbates my tendency to ���mal de mer���, I am a saloon and cockpit kinda guy. It is the combination of the solar panels, solar power, smaller, economic diesels, and hull form that really interests me in this boat. The first report I saw on the boat beat the drum for hybrid power. Yes, just like a Prius, with solar panels providing power to the new-tech batteries sufficient to provide normal cruising power for the boat. On board, the electric drive was immediately and very pleasantly apparent. Hands up who has been on a big boat, with the firing up to leave the marina of the trilling of engine alarms, the cough, splutter, roar of diesels waking up, the inevitable puff of greasy diesel fumes and the thunk of engines going into gear? There���s none of that at all on the Greenline. We were at the marina, we undid the ropes and we glided silently from the berth with nary a peep or a murmur. This was seriously nice! I had visions in mind of some small mad whirring noise, kinda like a bow-thruster on steroids etching across my nerves like fingernails down a blackboard, but no, the only sound the electric plant makes is a quiet hum, and as we left the marina itself, smoothly and quickly increasing to six knots, the hum was not any louder or more intrusive. I was impressed. Talking to Richard he says that, in sunny weather admittedly, the solar panels can provide all the power the boat needs for a full day���s motoring at six knots, as well as using the galley which is all electric by the way. No gas bottles to change or gas leaks to bother about and no need to flash up the two diesels under the floor. The diesels are apparently based on the motor of a diesel VW Golf I think. I admit it, I am not in the slightest an engines guy, my deep and abiding interest goes so far as, ���does it work? OK then���, and given that this hull design is apparently a superbly efficient one, they can be far smaller than those on similar class boats and still have reasonable performance, able to clip along comfortably at high teens knots. This is all pretty much hearsay: brochure glossy type stuff. It may be true, it may be total spin, I don���t know. However I can easily believe it. What I can attest to is the total pleasure of having the electric option of propulsion. Using electrics to move about on the water adds as much of a change to the sheer pleasure of boating, as